With 22 months of record Leaf sales under its zero-emission belt, Nissan has started two big ad campaigns for the battery-powered Leaf. On TV, there's the Kick Gas campaign (it's a popular name) and on social media, Nissan is promoting the EV as the "world's cleanest car" (it's a paint thing). We don't know how much the paint prank is costing, but we do have some estimated numbers for the TV ads.

We'll admit we don't understand all of this strange little ad for the Toyota Prius Plug In (our Japanese skills are not what they once were) but that just makes it all the more fascinating. The takeaway point is that a world full of PHEV Priuses will be astonishingly colorful at time and exciting, with food being delivered by a neck plug. Or something like that.

General Motors is at it again with a new Chevrolet Volt TV commercial. Viewers of the Winter Olymics (at least in some markets) recently saw a TV ad in between the skating and the skiing that made no mention of the environmental benefits or freedom from the power of Big Oil that electric vehicles provide. No, this one was based on pure survival instinct.

Each time is like the first time. That's the challenge – read: opportunity – that Nissan has whenever it brings the all-electric Leaf to a new market. For the EV's South African debut, the local Nissan arm decided that humor would be the best way to teach people about the new car with the new powertain.

One may argue that it takes some stones for a car company to more or less belittle 98 percent of the vehicles it makes, but Nissan is doing just that with its latest pitch for the Leaf all-electric vehicle. As discovered by Green Car Reports, Nissan is about to unveil a television advertising campaign that features company executive Brian Maragno essentially saying that, all things being equal, electric cars are superior to gas-powered vehicles, and not merely better for the environment or easie

I am starting to feel sorry for Detroit. Leading Presidential candidate Barack Obama's new TV ad, titled "Quiet," tells a joke about going to Detroit and calling for a higher fuel efficiency standard. You can watch the video for yourself below the fold. Speaking to an audience, Barack explains he cannot accept sending 800 million dollars a day to hostile nations and in the bargain, melt the ice caps. Barack continues, saying, "I went to Detroit to insist we had to increase fuel efficiency standa

I saw a TV commercial for a Chevy flex fuel car last night. The format for the ad was a lot like the Chevy Volt commercial: kids learning about a car outdoors with a teacher. The interesting part of the ad was the teacher's description of the flex fuel car as "vegetarian." I find the description of a GM car as vegetarian odd considering the Hummer, which, like Chevy is a unit of GM, uses ads that say tofu munchers must buy the Hummer to "restore your manhood." I can't wait to see how they advert